Imagine What?...Jesus and John Lennon Go to Greenwich

This is a video that was recorded in 1995, when the many YouTube creators may have well been in their infancy, let alone the idea of digital web-imaging – or whatever the technical term is for making entertainment like this cheap and accessible. Believe it or not, this was filmed at a “Revival” at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC and the Lennon look-a-like is the pastor of a Redeemer church plant, The Village Church. You guessed it; it’s located in Greenwich Village.

An anomaly to say the least, The Village Church seeks to see their culture redeemed by and for the Gospel by engaging the intellectual, artistic, and others who are on the quest for Truth.

From their website:

“And this is why The Village Church belongs here, proclaiming Jesus Christ. Because Jesus intends nothing less than a revolution to overturn this age. It is not that revolution is bad, it is only that the usual revolutionaries don’t take it far enough. We tell people, to be in our church, you need to agree that there is something desperately wrong with the world. You need to be skeptical of false Messiahs. And you need to be open to new experiences. By that we mean you need to be radical in your commitment to follow the truth, to follow it into whatever experience constitutes the real revolution.”

“We can serve these folks and others like them because Christ’s revolution allows us to connect our heads to our hearts. The wisdom of Christ comes behind no other path intellectually. This is why our church believes the best way to proclaim the truth is to provide an environment of free enquiry, ending each Sunday with a Question Authority time, in which all comers are invited to comment on or challenge anything they have heard that day. As one new member put it, “I joined because this church welcomes thinking as part of its religion.” Intellectual integrity is a key part of Christ’s revolution."

As for their Pastor, Sam A. Andreades,

“He attended Yale University (B.S., Geology & Geophysics, 1984) and was awarded Yale’s Hammer Award for his thesis on acoustical wave travel through granites."

I am fairly convinced that this is my first encounter with a geophysicist and I think the only time I have ever used the word “granite” is when I knew that I have officially been baptized into the vernacular of southern drawl by saying, "Granite, I may not be the smartest hog in the trough…"

All this said, Sam and The Village Church, a PCA congregation, seem to be affecting great gains for the gospel in New York and beyond. His latest sermon, "The Conqueror Comes on the Clouds," is available here. He is not dynamic in his presentation, but is thoughtful, Christ-centered, and Word-oriented. Remember that his audience is composed of NYU students and faculty and other artistic intellectuals who have been questioning the establishment for years. I believe God is being glorified and using this fellowship to accomplish His purpose.

The lyrics to this song are recorded below. Click here for the full post.


"Imagine what?"

Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try
Imagine there’s nothing real but what you see
Isn’t that a cheery thought?
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there’s no heaven or hell
And while we’re at it, no moral justice
No more consequences for what you do
You can cheat on your wife, no problem
(Everything turns out right anyway)
Wouldn’t this really be
A wonderful world to live in

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
And we all know truth is determined by majority
So come along and we’ll be as one

Imagine no possessions
It isn’t hard to do
Imagine not being responsible for anything
Or caring how it’s treated
Life would be sort of like the public library
All the books with the pages ripped out

Imagine not wanting to own anything
Imagine not having the things you enjoy
So imagine not caring what you have for dinner
And no passions too
Imagine what it feels like to be a brick
Living as a brick for evermore

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
So if we get enough people together
I’m sure we can talk some sense into God

Imagine no religion
No Jesus Christ to tell us what to do
Just all of us sort of figuring it out
And everyone stopping being selfish
A brotherhood of man
Because…...it’s a nice thing to do
Imagine all the people
Achieving an uncorrupt, socialist world state all by ourselves

Well maybe that’s a little hard to imagine
But go ahead anyway,
After all we’ll show God we can be brave
No-ho-ho matter what He thinks